Throughout my 23 years of life, I never understood what "mirror eye" meant. I remembered questioning it in all my feeble-minded childishness, only to be met with some more of the same old, regurgitated fart-dust word salad the elders always gave me.

"It is not something to be understood, it is something to be felt. To feel the Kagami no Me IS to understand it."

Whatever the hell that meant.

After that, I stopped asking.

As far as my clan was concerned, it was a turn of phrase conceived specifically for overuse. They carried on endlessly of wielding and inheriting it, strengthening it, conquering nations with it, all of that good stuff. In the moments I cared enough to listen, I caught snippets of conversation among the elders about which matches would make for the highest probability of passing the mirror eye on to their offspring.

Those noble geezers and their unsolicited old-man advice were the only reason my parents wed in the first place. They were revered by the elders as "the perfect partnership, most suited to rear fine and talented young women to carry on the legacy of the clan."

Well, they were almost right.

My mother bore three daughters, of which I was the unremarkable middle child. Both of my sisters awakened their kekkei genkai by the age of two.

I wasn't so lucky. The only things I inherited were my mother's looks and the unprecedented ability to completely suck at lots of things.

But hey, that's what you get for accepting marital advice from a bunch of old dudes who thought that walking out of the house in socks and sandals was a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

(Okay, so maybe that was the "proper" way to wear geta, but that didn't stop me from thinking it looked stupid.)

I'm unsure of whether or not crappy memory is an inherited trait, but I undoubtedly picked it up somewhere along the way. I can recall nearly nothing of my father, and I only remember what my mother looks like because of the way she used to look at me: long grey hair and skin as pale as the moon, peach lips pulled taught into a stern line, and hooded, steely eyes that regarded me with scathing disappointment.

She was a graceful woman, with a proud and elegant smile that reached her eyes. She often gifted a loving curve of her lip to both of my siblings. But whenever her gaze drifted in my direction, her eyes were empty, save for a calculated resentment that made me feel as if I were the proverbial tarnish on a polished piece of silver.

That look was a curse from which I could never escape. It was a reminder that the value of my family name depreciated with every minute that I was still breathing.

So you can imagine how unfortunate it was that in the end, I would be the only one left alive.

Go figure.

The attack was swift and my clan was arrogantly unprepared. It was midnight on the outskirts of the Land of Oil. It started out a feint rumble that was brushed off as pyrotechnics from a neighboring town's celebration. But then, everything was on fire, and I knew that something was wrong.

I remembered running out of the house and almost being trampled. We were under siege, hordes of enemy clan members slaughtering every living soul in their path. It was chaotic.

That night was the last time I saw my family. I watched our burning house collapse with them inside.

Whatever. They were assholes, anyway.

I could feel the heat from the flame and I started to run again. I was five, and my little kid legs didn't make it two strides before I was knocked out cold by...something. I still don't know what it was.

So that sucked.

In the end, the entire clan was wiped out. I thought I was a goner, too, until I woke up in the hospital in some hick-ass town called Konoha. After I was properly patched up, the nurses tried to explain to me what had happened. They were pretty vague, most likely because they thought that my tiny, underdeveloped child brain couldn't comprehend the severity of what had transpired.

They were probably right.

All I knew was that there was some kind of beef between my clan and another one, and in an effort to be done with it once and for all, the other guys decided it would be cool to just kill all of us. That works too, I guess. They had also managed to find one other of my clan in the rubble, but he didn't survive the night. They said he got cooked extra crispy and that his injuries were too extensive to repair.

Ouch.

When I was sufficiently healed, I was discharged, and it was off to an orphanage for me. They named me there.

The first time I heard it, I grimaced.

Nokori.

Leftover.

Real original, you guys.

I was foisted into the ninja academy after that. My scores were amongst the lowest of the class, partly because I didn't want to be there, but mostly because I couldn't mold chakra to save my damn life. I could perform a substitution jutsu okay enough, I guess, but it ended there.

All I wanted to do was drop out, but my academy sensei insisted that I remain enrolled. "You're the heir of your clan," he said. "Your chakra is unique and powerful. It would be a shame to let that go to waste."

Okayyy, but what good was having such rad-ass chakra if I couldn't do anything with it?

I was nine when I discovered I was exceptionally good at deciphering the MO's and thought processes of my opponents. You know, the whole "seeing underneath the underneath" thing. I could tell what they were thinking, I felt how they were feeling. It was scary.

My sensei said it was called "empathy," but I knew it ran deeper than that.

It was like my head was connected to theirs by an invisible cable, and I could thumb through the wrinkles of their brain and access any bit of knowledge that I fancied. I could watch fond memories catologued away in the back of their minds just by looking into their eyes. I knew what their favorite color was, how old they were when they lost their first tooth, and how they got that scar on their cheek; I experienced the trip they took with their parents to the land of Rice Paddies when they were seven.

I saw it all as if I were there.

My sensei laughed when I told him. He said that it was impossible for me to see these things, and that I was too old to indulge in such childish fantasies.

So I stopped talking about it, and my ability fell into dormancy.

After that, the only two things I really excelled at were shuriken throwing and evasion.

That's right. Running away.

Somehow, I graduated. My clone was mediocre, but it remained corporeal long enough for me to earn my headband.

I was placed on a three-man squad after that, operating under a new sensei. My teammates were supportive, and we formed strong bonds. We still have lunch together sometimes when they aren't off killing people.

My sensei trained me as best as she could. She must've done something right, because I passed the chunin exams. It was by a stroke of luck, sure, but I did it.

She was killed in action a week before my chunin certification. R.I.P. Satsuma-sensei. You were the real M.V.P.

These days, I'm feeling pretty content. I go through the motions, complete enough B or C rank missions to get by.

I know that I will never be a splendid ninja, and that's okay. We can't all be heroes. (I'm pretty sure there's a quota.)

I'll keep doing what I can with what I've got, and I'll leave the hard stuff to that one loud mouthed, ramen-eating kid people are always talking about.

I'm all right with weed pulling and dog walking. Somebody's gotta do it.

Life's good.

So here I am, living my best life.

Awesome.

...only I know deep down that out there somewhere, my mother is still watching my every move, and that she is so disappointed in me.

Even now after all these years, when I wake with a start in the dead of night, it is because I feel eyes on me.

I shot up in bed and panted, and I stared. They always stared back. The eyes that hated me for everything I was and ever would be.

18 years later, and the wound was still fresh.

I blinked away the lingering tendrils of my night terror and wiped cold sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. I stilled, taking a moment to compose myself before I began to meditate. My muscles went lax, and I did nothing else but focus.

15 seconds passed before the crickets chirping in the persimmon trees outside my window became a deep, reverberating hum along the peripheral of my consciousness.

20 seconds more, and I didn't hear them at all.

I breathed deep. In through my nose, out through my mouth, and repeat.

I was safe.

A minute and a half in, I had successfully regulated my breathing back into some kind of relatively normal pattern.

In and out, and once more.

And then, I opened my eyes and the earth started up again.

I flung my legs over the edge of my narrow wooden bed, still groggy.

"Welp, I'm up for the day," I mumbled.

I stood and stretched, sprawling out my arms as wide as they would span, then moving on to work the deep tissue in my legs. I hissed when I inadvertently rammed my toe into the corner of my bedside table. I let a half-hearted "fuck" blow past my chapped lips and groaned.

This place was so damn small.

My two-room apartment was the housing equivalent of a shoebox, with a monthly rate roughly three times the cost of my freshly purchased ninja tools. It overlooked a pachinko parlor on the east side of the city, and was a hop, skip, and a shunshin away from the Hokage Tower.

You know what they say about real estate: location, location, location. That may be, but come on.

The rent was ludicrous.

You'd think that a "sprawling and respected" municipality like Konoha could afford to adequately compensate their shinobi. But in reality, being a ninja was about as good as being anything else. It was a job with average pay, just like being a baker or a fisherman.

Only the resident baker didn't have to worry about being maimed or otherwise injured every time he left his house.

I padded over to the tiny bathroom adjacent to where I had been sleeping and stood in front of the cracked, porcelain sink. I caught cool water in my cupped my hands and doused my face before flicking the faucet off.

Hesitating, I looked up and caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror, illuminated only by the meager light the waning moon put off.

The serene glow accentuated my pale skin, gray eyes, and peach lips, and I scowled.

I hated how much I looked like my mother. My gaze drifted, and I felt my belly warm with a gnawing anger.

I sighed.

Well, let's go do stuff.

I pushed away from the sink and exited the bathroom. Making my way across the bedroom and into the dimly lit living quarters of the apartment, I stopped briefly to check the time.

2:04 a.m.

Ugh.

With half-lidded eyes, I shuffled into my regulation, blue canvas sandals and grabbed the olive green jacket I had left lying over a chair. I fastened my weapon and supplies pouches to my back pockets, just in case. "A ninja is always prepared," right? I hopped onto the stove and was out the kitchenette window and onto the roof before I even finished putting my left arm through my jacket sleeve.

The night was balmy, with a breeze that swept across my face and exposed calves in a series of comfortably solid gusts. My ashen hair billowed in the air behind me...

...right before the wind decided to swap directions and blow it all directly into my face.

Nice.

I spit a few soggy strands out of my mouth much like I would a bug and then cleared my throat, hoping nobody saw.

I closed my eyes again and breathed deep, and all I could smell was freedom. The promise of adventure beckoned me forward on the crest of the summer wind, and I took off like a madman. I set off at a blistering pace, propelling myself over the rooftops of a bustling Konoha with reckless abandon.

Two in the morning, and it was still loud. I swear, this noisy city never sleeps.

The scarlet roof tiles clanked under the soles of my sandals as I scampered over them, and I laughed a laugh that was unabashedly carefree. I'll admit that my footwork was a tad bit shoddy. I never was super ace at this, but I did my best. I stole through the town like a slightly uncoordinated thief in the night until I reached the top of the looming wall that surrounded it. I paused to hang out on the ledge when I heard voices.

Guards.

What a nuisance.

Steadying my grip on the wall with my left hand, I reached into my pouch and pulled out a jagged, egg-sized rock with my right. I tossed it once and caught it in my palm for good measure before throwing it over the wall to the far left. I waited and heard...nothing.

Missed.

Rolling my eyes, I pulled out another stone and tossed it along the same route that I had the first one. Barely a second later, I heard the unmistakable solid plonk of stone hitting stone. It bounced a few times before settling in the center of the path atop the wall.

Jackpot.

The chatter stopped, and I heard the sandals of the shinobi on duty shuffle to the left where my rock had landed.

Excellent.

Smell ya later.

While the wardens were distracted, I furrowed my brows in determination and hoisted myself up and over the wall. For a moment I was airborne, weightless. I grinned, too elated to care who my crooked teeth offended. I channeled chakra to my feet and raced an imaginary opponent down the side of the sturdy scarlet barrier. I was 15-ish feet from the earthy horizon where the wall met the ground beneath when I launched myself off of it and flailed through the air. I found myself upright again, and the ground connected with my feet.

My landing was rough and I rolled my ankle upon impact. It didn't slow me down too much. My eye twitched in the mildest incarnation of a wince, but I recovered. Soon, I was kicking up the dust with my arms at my back and the wind in my hair on the westbound trail out of Konohagakure.

Running was my favorite thing to do. It was something I was good at.

So I ran, and I was happy.

I had been dicking around the outskirts of Konoha for a few hours now. A good half of the time was spent jogging, and most of the other had been filled with agility and body weight exercises. I had even managed to squeeze in some shuriken practice.

I was sprinting through the canopy of the forest feeling all accomplished when a rather disgruntled crow flew right into my face. Losing control of my footing, I tumbled into a clearing below and threw my arms up over my head to protect myself from being pecked.

It swooped down on me once, twice, and then disappeared into the trees to my left.

What the hell, bird? It's a bit too early for you to be around, isn't it? The sun doesn't even come up for a couple of hours-

Wait a second.

Before I could register it, the air around me had shifted. Every hair on my body shot up toward the heavens and I swallowed hard. I suddenly felt like an animal with its foot caught in a trap. It were as if a seasoned hunter was closing in on me, one shot loaded in the chamber of his worn and reliable rifle, ready to put it right between my eyes.

For the second time in my young life, I felt with a mortifying certainty that I was going to die.

"She fits the physical description we were given."

The voice sliced through the night like a velvet-handled dagger, and the only thing I saw was red. It was then that I knew I was staring death in the face.

A rough, mocking voice sounded from the unkempt shrubbery adjacent to the glowing red death balls.

"This little scab?"

Hey, now.

"I've confirmed upon closer inspection that her chakra signature is indeed a match. This is the one we have been looking for."

"Closer inspection?" How long have they been following me?!

"Oh come now, Itachi. I've come across squirrels more menacing than her."

I blinked.

"No. She is strong, both in will and might...however, she is indeed weak in execution. I'll let you handle her."

Handle me? Who the hell do you think you are, Lite-Brite?

Okay. Time to tell these guys how it's going down.

Show 'em who's boss.

My fingers were shaking. I tried to think of something clever to say, or at least a wicked insult to sling at 'em.

But I was panicked, and all that came out was:

"Why are you talking to a bush?"

Nice one, brain. Real smooth.

The red eyes narrowed at me in warning, and I felt like I was going to throw up. The shrub to the left of the glowing eyes scoffed before the brush rustled and the outline of its occupant came into view. My eyes had adjusted enough for me to make out an exceptionally girthy tree trunk directly behind where mystery man was stationed. Judging by its thickness, it had to have been over a century old. He rose, and standing at full height, his shoulders were damn near broad enough to completely block my view of the whole damn trunk.

This guy was massive, and he was headed straight for me.

As the behemoth inched closer, I shifted my legs a little to make sure I hadn't shat myself.

Nope, feels clean.

Cool.

I stumbled backwards, obviously perturbed. He was a head and a half taller than I was, and three times as wide. He came to stand across from me on the dirt path, and the points of his teeth caught the pastel light of the moon when he grinned. His reflective eyes were a piercing white, topped with sharp, golden irises that were several sizes too small. His dark hair rejected all laws of physics, standing straight up and adding several inches to his already preposterous height. His skin appeared peaked in the night, almost as if he were...grey?

No, blue?

I couldn't tell.

Either way, no biggie. I had seen weirder things cleaning out my tub drain.

But still.

He was large, and I was frantic.

"He wasn't talking to a bush, you impudent little pipsqueak. He was talking to me."

I regarded the gargantuan stranger before me with a gaping mouth.

"Oh."

He continued to stare at me, dissecting me with his eyes, taking note of my stance, determining my habits, my idiosyncrasies, my fighting style...shit, he could probably tell what I ate for dinner last night. His mind was definitely toiling away in that giant head of his. It felt like he was scanning me, memorizing every detail of my appearance.

He probably was.

Observation is one of the most efficient ways to gather intel on your opponent.

Not that I needed to. I could tell just by being near these guys that they were bad news.

After a tense silence had passed between us, he spoke.

"Close your mouth. It's very unbecoming."

I complied so quickly that my teeth clicked.

"So, uh...what brings two fine young...whatever the hell you are to a place like this?"

He smirked.

"It's our boss, see. He sent us here to pick up a few things...among them, a kunoichi."

He stalked toward me, and my sympathetic nervous system decided to show me just how pissed off it was at me for falling right into this mess.

My heart rate increased threefold.

"About...5 foot 6..."

He took another step forward.

"Pale complexion..."

I took two adamant steps back and dealt him the best glare I could muster.

"Grey eyes..."

My blood rushed in my ears as one by one, he listed off traits that I possessed. It was almost too loud for me to make out what he was saying.

I swallowed again, it was a bit more difficult this time around.

When did my mouth get so dry?

He took one last deliberate step toward me, much too close for comfort. His pearlescent orbs narrowed.

"Well, now. That kind of sounds like you...doesn't it?"

The sides of my head felt hot. I was terrified.

He laughed. I don't know what for. His jokes were lousy.

I backed further away, maintaining my distance. He continued rambling, and I found that my fear was ebbing, gradually being replaced by annoyance.

He sure was a chatty fucker. Why did these villainous types always have to talk your damn ear off?

He carried on and I took the time he spent blabbering to thoroughly analyze the precarious situation in which I found myself. I scanned the area around me with my eyes. I took note of his position, as well as where his partner stood in the collective shadow of the trees. I did the math in my head and began to rummage through ideas, trying to put together a plan.

First, the least appealing option: I could take them on right here, give 'em everything I've got.

But then I would die because my taijutsu skills are dick and a half, and I only know a few crappy jutsu.

No go.

Second, I could let myself be attacked and execute a substitution jutsu, land in a tree, and fire off a couple of shuriken or something.

But I reckon I would die if I did that, too, because they're probably a hell of a lot faster than I am. These guys felt incredibly powerful. They would know my next move before I did. In all actuality, they'd find my hiding place immediately and put the hurt on me something fierce.

Also, there's no guarantee that my substitution would be successful. I might end up accidentally poofing myself into the middle of a river somewhere, and I can't swim.

Again, no go.

Damn, is he seriously still talking?

"-would make it a bit difficult to locate you, but here you are-"

My gaze shifted frantically with no discernible destination, trying to come up with something that would help me map out a better course of action than making an assclown out of myself. By now, he had caught on to what I had been doing, and he didn't like it.

"-come quietly, and we'll...hey. What's got you looking all around like that?"

I froze.

"Sure hope you aren't thinking of ways to escape. It'll just make things harder for the both of us."

My eyes widened, and it was a dead give away that he had me all figured out. I think he felt my stomach drop at the same time I did. His fixed stare turned predatory then. His pupils dilated, and his face fell into a dangerous grin.

"Then again, Samehada has been stirring for a good fight. It's been inconsolable since you showed up, and it doesn't behave that way for just anyone. I guess that means that there is something 'special' about you after all."

He reached his arm behind himself and began to pull...something off of his back. It was too dark for me to make out what it was. All I knew was that these were some bad dudes, so it seemed safe to assume that whatever he was pulling out was probably bad, too.

I lifted my hands up in surrender, palms facing forward, and shook my head.

"Fellas, come on now. You've got the wrong-"

"My partner has seen the strange power within you."

Oh great, more of this enlightened monologuing. Yay.

Somebody get this son of a bitch a PhD and a talkshow.

"His visual prowess is unparalleled, and overlooks nothing. If he sees it, then it must be so."

Ugggggh what the hell was this guy even talking about?!

"Why don't we put it to the test, hm?"

The thing on his back was half-freed when that voice sounded off from the trees again. Eloquent as it was, it startled me.

"Kisame."

His red-eyed partner was growing restless with every passing minute, still radiating that sickening aura in waves. It was suffocating.

He emphasized his displeasure with his partner's proposition by stepping out of the tree line and into the moonlight as well. Long, black hair, a spotless porcelain complexion, and deep stress lines sunken into his otherwise unblemished face.

And those freaky eyeballs, of course.

Huh. This one was some kind of pretty. A weird sort of pretty that made my brain hurt when I looked him, but pretty nonetheless.

"We mustn't waste any more time here. Collect her and let's be on our way."

The big guy turned and made eye contact with his partner as they quarreled. Presently, they were both looking in directions that were not mine, and I hoped that it was a good enough distraction.

It was then that I decided to do what I do best.

I threw down a smoke bomb and took off running as fast as I could...

...and it didn't detonate. I shot a hurried glance back, and there it was, lying on the ground like a big ole' fucking ball of uselessness.

"...oh, you have got to be KIDDING ME!"

It wasn't.

I kept running because...well, what the hell else was I going to do?

Their eyes followed my fleeing form, thoroughly unimpressed with my escape attempt.

"Itachi, this girl is a lunatic."

His bright-eyed partner "hm'd" his agreement.

"Are you sure you're sure that this is the girl we were ordered to-"

"Yes."

Kisame sighed.

"I'm on it."

I had navigated back to the path and had somehow managed to put 20 feet of distance between us. I heard the distinct rush of air when he launched himself after me, and felt another when he appeared directly behind me. My heart was pumping a mile a minute.

I stole a second to snatch a shuriken from my pouch and launch it at him. The trajectory couldn't have been more perfect. It would most definitely be a direct hit.

It was sailing straight toward him, an inch away from biting into a vital spot.

And then, he caught it. Right between two meaty fingers.

He tossed it back at me and I barely dodged it.

Damn, this guy is serious.

He kept pace with me perfectly. He was so fast.

This wasn't looking good for me at all. I glanced back and he barked out a laugh.

He's not even breaking a sweat!

"Who are you running from? Did you really think you could evade us?"

I didn't humor him with an answer, I just put one foot in front of the other and prayed to all that was holy that I could reach the gates of the village in time.

It didn't work.

Oh well. Better luck next time, I guess.

I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second, and that was when he body flickered directly in front of me. He was solid as a rock when I smashed into him, and my damn nose nearly broke with the force of it being crushed into his iron chest.

The tip of my sniffer was red as a beet, burned from the friction of rubbing up against his stupid cloud-covered cloak with such intensity.

Cloak-burn? Really? Oh, fuck me.

The instant I recovered, I hopped back away from him immediately. He chortled. It was an unpleasant, discouraging sound.

DAMN IT!

For a split second, I wondered why he wasn't using any jutsu.

And then it hit me.

He thought I was too easy a target to waste chakra on.

Huh. Well that's insulting.

But it's not like he was wrong.

I pulled a sharp pivot and launched myself in the opposite direction

"Oh no you don't. You're not getting away again, not after all the trouble you've put me through."

His voice dwindled as if I were putting him further behind me, and for all of a millisecond, I was hopeful. But the next thing I knew, he was rocketing forward and he closed the distance between us instantaneously.

He roared, and I felt his breath against the back of my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, running blind. A frigid chill stitched its way up my spine, vertebra by vertebra, and my shoulders tensed in discomfort. One hand busied itself with freeing whatever the thing was that he had been shouldering.

His free hand shot out in an attempt to grab a fistful of the fur that lined the hood of my jacket. But it was dark out and my stride shifted just enough that he ended up with a clump of my coarse hair in his hand instead.

What the fu-?

No, wait, wait, WAIT-

Now, in retrospect, I suppose it's possible for hair and fur to feel pretty similar in the heat of the moment or whatever.

And I guess he thought so, too, because he yanked me backwards anyway.

Hard.

It was violently fast. I was airborne. My body was straight as an arrow, parallel to the dirt below, and it was then that it dawned on him what had happened. He immediately let go and jumped back, right before I slammed into the dust like a sack of weighted potatoes.

The impact was loud, and I did not land the way that I was supposed to.

The posterior of my skull bore the brunt of the fall. I hit the ground hard, and I was flat on my back before I had the chance to breathe. I felt my brain fly up and and hit the back of my eyes, ricocheting around inside my cranium like a pinball hitting all the stops. I stared up at the dark sky in a daze and sizable fragments of my vision sparkled white. I groaned unintelligibly and then swallowed.

I was in so much pain that I almost forgot how pissed off I was.

Almost.

I heard the tak of his sandals heading in my direction and he entered my field of vision. He was smirking again.

Or maybe that's just how his face looked, I don't know.

He opened his big, stupid mouth, and all I saw were teeth.

"That was pathetic...Itachi was correct, your technique is truly deplorable."

I sputtered as my brain rebooted itself.

"L-Low...blow...bro..." My griping ended in a breathy exhale. I carried on between pants. "Hair pulling is...such a bitch move...I thought a guy like you...would be above that kind of stuff."

I winced. It hurt to talk.

He shrugged. "Whatever works. For the record, let it be known that I was aiming for your jacket. You were supposed to land on your ass. Not your head."

Well, you sure fucked that one up, didn't cha?

Asshole.

"Either way...owwwwww..."

He blinked. "You couldn't even hit the ground properly when you were attacked. You should at least know how to fall safely. You really are a pitiful shinobi."

I thought I would burst into flames.

Yeah, and YOU should know what "center of gravity" means! Where the head goes the body follows, and since you were yanking mine around...

"You sure...talk a lot...don't you?"

He considered it for a moment.

"Hm...I suppose I do."

He laughed.

Again.

"Then again, I guess you aren't a total loss. After all, Pein wouldn't send us out here for nothing. Sure hope he knows what he's doing..."

He mumbled that last bit under his breath.

This guy...

"Well, as long as I have you on the ground..."

He reached behind himself.

"...let's get you nice and docile before you even think of running again, shall we?"

He pulled out the thing on his back and, at last, it became fully visible to me. It appeared to be some kind of...

What the hell IS that thing?! A...sword...creature thingy?

It was all done up in bindings like a mummified corpse. It undulated in anticipation...and it growled. He lowered it until the tip of the object grazed my abdomen.

At first, the feeling was barely noticeable. A slight tingle.

But then, it progressed into a weakness unlike I had ever felt, and it wasn't long before my legs felt like static. I was at a loss.

What is going on? Is this some kind of slow-acting poison?

No...there's no way he could have, I never gave him an opening.

But then...what is this feeling?

Languidly, I glanced down to where the sword hovered above my belly...

...and it suddenly made sense.

I watched in disgust as it rumbled with delight, siphoning my strength from every pore. This thing sure was a noisy eater. It was taking my chakra in such large quantities that it was visible.

The shark saber was sucking the life out of me.

That damned grin returned to his face when he saw that I understood exactly what this meant.

"I'm sure you've figured it out by now, girl. My blade, Shark Skin, eats chakra, and has taking a particular liking to yours. I will stop it before it takes enough to kill you, but I can't deny it fresh food...especially when it was so easy to catch."

I huffed. A strained whisper was all I could muster. I was so tired.

"...fuck...you..."

His gaze shifted in annoyance.

"No thanks," he drawled casually. "Public sex isn't one of my kinks."

His partner dropped from the air to join him where he stood. He was just beyond my peripheral, but it sounded as if he were speaking from a million miles away.

"Kisame. The sun is rising."

And sure enough, it was. I could feel the warmth of the first light of dawn tickling my fingertips. Where had the time gone?

Somewhere, a songbird was singing.

I had become so weak that I could no longer speak and I knew that I was on the brink of unconsciousness.

He glanced to his partner.

"I'm almost through."

He cast his eyes downward once more and arrogantly cocked his head.

"Take a nap. Soon, we'll be-"

Before I could catch the tail end of whatever the hell it was that he was saying, my hearing trailed off. It felt like my head had been pushed under water, and my vision began to tunnel. The last thing I saw was a toothy smile plastered onto a blue blur, illuminated by the diffused light of the rising sun.

Huh. So he really is blue.

And then, there was black.

Aaaaaaaaaaand scene. Whew, that was a lot.

Anywho, hey guys! Author here. How ya feelin' this evening? Long-time lurker, first-time poster. You know how it goes. I don't write much, but when I do, this is what happens. Hopefully, you like it!

Feel free to comment, but please be kind. My anxiety thanks you.

(No, but seriously, it took me an hour after I finished writing this to grow the nads to post it. Viva la hesitation. To be honest, I still have an icky nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Posting your writing for other people to read is scary.

Whatever.)

Loveyoubye.